Chapter 55: Fluttering Ashes (1)

"D, Dragons? What nonsense!"

The knight looked at Eruhaben and raised his voice as if telling him not to speak nonsense.

However, his voice was shaking so much.

'…The palace-'

The palace right next to the Emperor's Palace was disappearing.

It did not get destroyed.

It did not crumble.

'Powder-'

The palace was turning into powder, into dust and instantly disappearing.

"Haaaa."

Eruhaben let out a short laugh and smiled.

"Whether my existence makes sense or not… Why is a punk like you making a judgment on them? Who do you think you are?"

Ooooooooong-

Gold dust sparkled around Eruhaben as they rumbled.

The knight felt as if his grip on his sword would release.

That wasn't all.

The eyes of everybody around them were shaking.

'…His pupils!'

The blond man… His pupils became long vertically.

"My goodness, h, he truly is a Dragon...?!"

Plop. A black mage, who had been using the staff in his hand like a cane to stay standing, ended up with one knee on the ground.

Black mages. They were people who used magic, albeit using dead mana.

Dragons who used mana as if they were born with the instinct to use it were creatures of legends and mythologies to them.

They had thought, 'oh she is a Dragon,' when the black-haired woman who was the Imperial Crown Prince's helper was introduced as a Dragon, but… Recognizing that and facing the strength of one was completely different.

"…Haaaaaaaaaa....."

Aphei let out a deep sigh.

She looked down at her hands. Her fingertips were slightly shaking.

Her eyes moved past her hand to the ancient Dragon in front of her again.

She was looking at his back.

This Dragon was angry.

Since he learned that the Dragons of this world went extinct because of the Hunters…

Since he learned that they made Aphei be born inside dead mana…

Since he heard that they took the traces of the dead Dragons, the corpses, and turned them into jiangshis…

This extremely dignified Dragon had been sharpening his anger.

And the moment the chains on this dignified Dragon were removed…

'Ah.'

Aphei's body started shaking as she recalled that moment.

It was trembling.

'Eruhaben-nim, please make a large explosion that will be visible from the central plaza. As for the rest, please feel free to do whatever you'd like.'

The Purifier did not give the ancient Dragon any specifics.

It was as if he knew what the ancient Dragon would do even without telling him anything.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

The gold dust fluttered in the wind. The ancient Dragon looked around before calmly speaking.

"But why aren't there more?"

One of the palaces in the Imperial Palace was gone and there was a large explosion in the Imperial Palace Black Mages building that was a bit away from them.

Although Eruhaben asked, wondering why the amount of troops who had come to capture him was so little, he quickly found the answer.

'A large number of troops must have gone to the central plaza.'

He realized that the Huayans patriarch had pulled some kind of ploy.

But it didn't matter.

Today was a day he could do as he pleased.

"I've never been that nice of a Dragon."

Oooooo– oooooo–

A significant amount of mana fluctuated with Eruhaben at the center.

Suffocating pressure flowed out of him.

It was Dragon Fear.

"But it's about to get even worse today."

Eruhaben moved his hand.

The gold dust pushed forward toward the enemy like waves.

"S, stop him!"

"Fuck, deliver a message to the central plaza right away!"

One of the knights shouted to his subordinate.

"Let them know that the entire Imperial Palace might get destroyed! Go now!"

Eruhaben was speaking into Aphei's mind at that moment.

– Watch and learn.

The corners of Aphei's lips curled up.

Aphei started fidgeting even more thinking about watching Eruhaben destroy everything. However, Eruhaben was not done speaking.

His voice was cold when he spoke into her mind compared to when he spoke through his mouth.

– The way to make the enemy as angry as possible is to steal what they treasure the most.

'Hmm?'

Aphei tilted her head to one side.

Eruhaben didn't care and looked quite haughty as he swept the enemies away with the golden mana waves.

– I am going to act as if I am destroying everything out of anger before going to the underground tomb and looting it completely.

– Basically, we will steal and then run.

Eruhaben thought about Cale who told him to go to the Imperial Palace without giving him many specifics.

'Funny little punk.'

He was sure that Cale knew.

No matter how angry Eruhaben was, he would not destroy the entire Imperial Palace as long as there were Dragon corpses in the underground tomb.

Cale knew that Eruhaben would swipe those Dragon corpses first.

'He knows me too well.'

Eruhaben gently moved his hand.

"How weak."

He had recognized it since noticing that there were no sword masters.

This world…

Xiaolen…

Had been in decline since about 300 years ago.

Tap. Tap.

Eruhaben confirmed that there was nothing here that could make him stop walking and headed toward the basement of the Emperor's Palace without any hindrance.

However, he had a thought on his mind.

'It looks like all of the troops have been moved to the central plaza.'

The Imperial Palace and the House of Huayans… He was almost certain that the core of their forces were all at the plaza.

The ancient Dragon thought about the Emperor and the Huayans patriarch.

'They were strong.'

Although the average level of people was low, the strong individuals of this world were strong enough to the point that this Dragon could not guarantee that he could beat them.

The core of the forces following them… He was certain that all of them, especially the Hunters, would be quite strong as well.

'It doesn't matter.'

However, Eruhaben was not very worried.

'…That power-'

Beyond the walls of Precinct 9… The moment he felt the power that Cale had used against the lake with the black tree…

Eruhaben had a thought.

'I'll lose.'

He thought that he would definitely lose to Cale.

It wasn't that he couldn't guarantee a victory. The only thought on his mind was that he would lose.

'That was just half of your strength?'

'Yes, Eruhaben-nim.'

The smile on Eruhaben's face grew bigger as he recalled that conversation with Cale.

Eruhaben listened to Aphei following behind him and headed toward the underground tomb.

Bang, bang! Bang!

He just destroyed all of the traps along the way.

"I should take care of this quickly and head over to the plaza."

* * *

People all around the plaza were getting rowdy again.

However, the mood was clearly different from earlier.

"Why is there a fire at the Imperial Palace?"

"Is the Imperial Palace being attacked again?"

"What the, what the hell is going on?!"

Fear and chaos dominated the plaza.

This was affecting the candidates as well.

"How is this even a test-"

Some of the smarter candidates realized that this situation was no longer connected to the test. They also realized that taking the wrong step in this situation might put their lives in danger.

'…The arrow-'

It was because the sky above their heads was currently full of white arrows made of white magic that were giving off holy lights.

Click. Click.

Furthermore, the flying skeleton monsters were still in the shape of a Dragon flapping its wings in the air.

Clunk.

As for the people in the luggage carts that Zero had brought, they had completely cleared the black burlap sacks from their heads. The ropes tying their hands and feet were easily removed as well.

The knights and black mages of the Empire were still completely tense.

It was quite the explosive situation that might go boom at any moment.

"It was you."

The person who spoke at that moment was Reddock Huayans, the patriarch of the House of Huayans and the current instructor of the Emperor.

He slowly walked to the end of the platform.

"It was you. You were the one who caused all of this."

He looked down at Cale.

Cale met his gaze and started to speak.

"Yes, it was me."

It was such a clear admittance. As the Chief of Staff slightly flinched at his response…

Cale continued to speak.

"I am the one who purified the area outside of Precinct 9."

– Human, are you finally accepting the results of your actions? Good job! Letting people know about you is good!

'Haaaa.'

Cale barely held himself back from sighing at Raon's comments into his mind.

'Fuck.'

Although he had made the decision to reveal himself as the Purifier, Cale still did not like it very much.

'It's quite unsettling.'

He was going to leave this world once things were resolved but Cale oddly had this mysterious feeling.

It felt as if the God of Death was behind him laughing at him.

"Purify?"

Some people reacted to that word. The Emperor was one of them. Cale's eyes clouded over. The Chief of Staff started to speak immediately.

"Purify? What ridiculousness!"

He needed to stop that man's mouth from saying useless things.

The Chief of Staff motioned to the Knight Captain and the Captain of the Imperial Palace's black mages with his eyes.

The tip of a sword and a black magic spell were directed at Cale. There was no hesitation whatsoever.

– Human!

Raon shouted in shock.

– Cale!

The Super Rock flinched and urgently called out to Cale.

"...!"

On the roof of a building around the plaza…

The person who had been sitting on a roof as if he was a spectator suddenly had a bow as tall as himself.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

An arrow that had left that bow was flying over.

It was aimed at Olivia.

Olivia looked up at the platform as soon as she noticed the arrow.

'!'

The Emperor was shaking his head and sighing while the patriarch was looking at Olivia with a stoic gaze.

Both of them looked as if they were merely killing a bug.

That was how nonchalant they looked.

Olivia turned her head.

The arrow was right in front of her now.

She heard the Purifier's voice.

"Choi Han."

Olivia closed her eyes.

Baaaaaang—!

She opened her eyes.

The arrow was broken into two and had fallen to the ground.

Olivia saw a violent black aura.

A swordsman was standing in front of her.

Cale's gaze headed up to the platform.

Reddock Huayans… The patriarch had also looked away from Cale and was speaking with a stoic gaze.

"Kill them."

It was at that moment.

Baaaaang!

There was a loud explosion and Zero frowned as he shouted.

"Fuck!"

One of the candidates…

The person who had spoken with envy and jealousy toward Zero… The person Zero had looked at as if the man was ridiculous was swinging his sword at him.

"What the hell? You're not a necromancer?!"

Zero saw the black spider webs on the candidate's skin start to disappear.

"…And?"

That candidate was a sword master.

Zero immediately figured out the situation.

"Ha, hahaha! There are Hunters all around us! The patriarch had planted people all around!"

His voice was buried.

Clang!

Baaaaang—!

There were sounds of weapons being drawn and clashing all over.

"Ahhhhh!"

"S, sword! Why do you have a sword?"

People all around the plaza were suddenly pulling out weapons, spells, or some other powers.

"…This is crazy."

Olivia's pupils started to shake.

Starting with a sword master, there were mages and black mages who seemed to be at the highest-grade, martial artists and archers who could channel their aura…

It was similar to 300 years ago.

It looked as if all of the strong individuals who were present throughout Xiaolen prior to the pollution of the land were gathered here.

'Are they the Hunters?'

The House of Huayans.

They were supposedly a Hunter household and known as the Black Bloods.

Were they the ones controlling such strong individuals?

'…Yes. Only then does it all make sense.'

Even thinking about it a little bit made it obvious that only an organization with this many strong individuals could make the Dragons go extinct and destroy this world.

'They also have their jiangshis.'

She heard that there were even jiangshis made with Dragon corpses down underneath the Imperial Palace.

Olivia's hands started to shake.

'…Everything is going to turn into a mess.'

Even if they won this fight against these Hunters they might end up with results that were no different from being the losers.

Numerous people would die.

Quite a lot of things might get destroyed.

"How foolish."

The calm voice from above the platform sounded oddly clear to her.

Olivia raised her head.

The Emperor let out a sigh and looked at her as if she was stupid.

How foolish.

The Emperor's words were directed at Olivia.

"Pfft."

Olivia laughed at that moment.

The Emperor's eyebrows slightly rose up. Olivia spoke at that moment.

"Will we lose?"

The Emperor didn't respond.

Someone else responded instead.

"Yes. You will lose."

Olivia's gaze moved. The Huayans patriarch. He was looking at Olivia as he raised his hand.

He then brought it back down.

Ooooooooong-

The arrows that filled the blue sky…

The arrows that were floating like the sun even higher than Mary's white skeleton brigade…

The arrows that looked holy as they glowed white started moving.

Dead mana that had turned white roamed around the patriarch's neck as he spoke.

"Do not stop the hunt."

The arrows started to move at that moment.

They were headed toward the Church of the Fire of Purification's members.

They were headed toward the white Dragon made of skeleton monsters.

They were headed toward the Agents of Destruction.

"Huh? Huh?"

"Why-"

They were also headed toward the candidates.

"What the hell? Why is it coming here?!"

"Watch out!"

They were headed toward the plaza and the entire capital.

The arrows started to descend.

Cale's gaze turned toward the patriarch.

The patriarch had a small smile on his face for the first time.

"It looks like I will gather all of the high quality sacrifices I need today. Thanks to you."

As the patriarch smiled as if to thank Cale…

Cale slowly reached his hand toward the sky.

He then said the following.

One corner of his lips was twisted up.

"Have you heard of a fiery thunderbolt in the middle of the clear sky?"

The cheapskate suddenly reacted in a loud voice.

– I don't! But I want to know!

Rumble-

Higher than Mary's skeleton brigade…

Higher than the descending arrows…

Up high in the sky…

The sky started to cry.

"Oh esteemed purifier."

The moment the Pope clasped her hands together…

A rose gold thunderbolt fell from the sky.

There were not a lot of thunderbolts like the arrows.

It was just a single fiery thunderbolt.

However, that was enough for Cale.

—
Translator's Comments

One punch man in the house!

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]